Russian Military Scraping Bottom of the Barrel by Seeking to Recruit Alcoholics, Eidman Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 18 – Vladimir Putin’s desperation in trying to raise enough troops to fight in Ukraine without declaring a general mobilization that could spark serious opposition to his regime at home is perhaps best symbolized by where his army’s recruiters are now posing their signs, Igor Eidman says.

            Friends of his in Nizhny Novgorod say that they have seen advertisements for contract service in the Russian army in and around convenience stores which sell samogon – the Russian word for moonshine – under the table and thus are where many alcoholics in that city now hang out (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=62FDC456B768D&section_id=50A6C962A3D7C).

            These alcoholics are being promised 250,000 rubles (4,000 US dollars) a month, an astronomical sum by Russian standards to sign up, Eidman continues; and many of them are, something that shows others less handicapped by their personal habits aren’t willing to do and something that is driving down the quality of those in Russian uniform.

            He points out that neither the military recruiters nor regional officials are above doing this because for them the only important thing is to meet their quotas. “No one cares about the quality of the conscripts,” and so not surprisingly, it is falling to unprecedented levels. Eidman does not address here what this clearly says about the attitudes of others towards the military.

            “If at the start of the war, the quality of human material in Russian military forces was quite low, now they have been transformed into a gang of alcoholics and criminals,” he says, something inevitable because “the army of a state built on lies” is doomed, and “the victory of Ukraine in this war is inevitable.”

            What Russian officials are doing is bringing that end ever closer.